TRAFFIC is growing faster in Greater Manchester than anywhere else in the country, campaigners claim.
Tameside tops a league table of places with the highest increase in congestion at 38.6 per cent over the last decade - more than twice the national average of 16 per cent.
Oldham was second with 34.5 per cent. The list was compiled by the Campaign for Better Transport, formerly Transport 2000. Both boroughs are due to get Metrolink in the next phase of extensions already agreed by the government - whether controversial congestion charging plans go ahead or not.
They are far ahead of other areas in the list, taken from the government's own statistics for traffic growth between 1995 and 2005.
Doncaster was third with 28.8 per cent, followed by South Gloucestershire and Leicestershire.
One explanation for the increase is the completion of the M60 ring road almost a decade ago and the opening of retail parks at Ashton Moss, Tameside, and Elk Mill, Oldham.
Roy Oldham, leader of Tameside council, blamed the area's problems on its geographical position. He said: "We have great amounts of cross-Pennine traffic as well as people making their way to the Peak District.
"Over the past decade, thousands of people have bought homes in Derbyshire and the only way for them to get into Manchester is through Tameside - cars are nose to tail in the morning and evening.
"The Peak District also has more than 21 million visitors a year, which further adds to congestion. We need better public transport systems with some regulation by the councils as well as park-and-ride systems which really work."
Oldham councillor Mike Buckley also wants more investment in public transport.
He said this, not the congestion charging system, was the right way to tackle congestion.
He said: "The best way of providing a public transport system which works for everyone is by returning the control of the system to the local authorities."
The government predicts there will be 5.7million more cars on the roads by 2031, a growth of 21 per cent.
Simply parking these cars would fill a 52-lane motorway all the way from Edinburgh to London, said the Campaign for Better Transport. It claims the result will be traffic hell.
The campaign's Stephen Joseph said: "The government must give people good alternatives to driving."
The organisation is demanding better rail services with longer trains and platforms as well as new lines and cheaper fares. It also wants better bus services, more integration, and travel plans with tax incentives for business and leisure.
New housing and commercial developments, it says. should be built around high-quality public transport such as trams, to give people real travel choices.
It demands a reduction in road building and the introduction of road pricing like the Greater Manchester proposals to introduce congestion charging in return for £3bn of public transport improvements.
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Congestion growing at twice national rate
September 10, 2007
Showing comments 1 to 25 and replies | View All
Chris, Irlam (10/09/2007 at 10:17)
Bear in mind Stephen Joseph is a major player in Transport 2000 (anti-car people) so anything he spouts can be dismissed as anti-car propaganda.
Congestion is growing as Greater Manchester is a VERY successful place - all these people in these cars will either be earning money or spending money....you know, the sort of thing that keeps the economy going?
Exactly the sort of thing a Congestion Charge will kill stone dead very quickly!
polkyb (10/09/2007 at 10:35)
The goverment should be ploughing some of the £50bn it takes off car owners already into a decent public transport system.
Why pay hundreds of thousands on a Congestion charging scheme, when the infrastructure for taxing motorists is already working so well? London has already shown that it doesn't actually raise any money when it's in place.
God forbid anyone else should be taxed to pay for it.. like the people who would use it.
The Catcher, In the Rye (10/09/2007 at 10:39)
Simon B, www.manchestertolltax.com (10/09/2007 at 10:52)
there are lots of little things being done now in Greater Manchester to artificially create congestion.
Simon B, www.manchestertolltax.com (10/09/2007 at 10:55)
These carbon off setting schemes were you pay to off set your carbon emmissions into green schemes
someone worked out, if you took all the tax the average car user pays, and put it into an off setting scheme, car users pay enough tax to off set their carbon emmissions twice over.
Joey, Ashton under Lyne, (10/09/2007 at 11:11)
Perhaps all the new factory's offices, stores, cinema complexs etc that have sprung up in the last decade - not to mention the M60 which make access easier has something to do with it. I do believe that there is a stadium in Stretford where congestion has gone from 55,000 in 1995 to over 76,000. It is only in places on the slide where "congestion" goes down.
Chris, Irlam (10/09/2007 at 11:12)
Overtaxed just isn't strong enough!
Giles (10/09/2007 at 11:25)
The Pride Parade on Bank Holiday weekend also caused lots of congestion.
Why do the council sanction such polluting and congesting parades?
Rob (Manchester Against Road Tolls) www.manchestertolltax.com, Denton (10/09/2007 at 12:04)
I used the M60 for my return journey which was much quicker, but a greater distance. This is what will happen when the congestion charge comes into force, many drivers going out of their way to avoid it. Congestion will just be moved elswhere, giving AGMA an excuse to extend the scheme. There neede to be real investment in public transport giving people real choice about how they travel without peanilising the driver and ulimately all Greater Manchester residents.
ace, manchester (10/09/2007 at 12:19)
Grief Tourist, Audenshaw (10/09/2007 at 12:45)
Snare Drum, Ashton-under-Lyne (10/09/2007 at 12:46)
Richard Wilde (10/09/2007 at 13:16)
Yours Rick Wilde.
little star, Cheshire (10/09/2007 at 13:36)
ace, manchester (10/09/2007 at 14:35)
You are so right that shopping malls are are the main cause of all this traffic.We dont have any little shopping areas for locals anymore. infact our local markets are being phased out so that will put even more pressure on the roads. gorton market is going and being replaced by a tesco grey mare lane market is being run down because of the council rents"They know what they are up to" designed for the sole reason of shutting the market.All these will cause even more congestion....
Munkey Boy, Audenshaw, Manchester (10/09/2007 at 15:43)
I ask those who demand public transport improvements but oppose the charge: where would you make cuts in public spending to pay for the public transport? Evryone seems to think there's a bit pot of money sitting about waiting to be used, but that's just not the case is it?
Munkey Boy, Audenshaw, Manchester (10/09/2007 at 16:26)
polkyb (10/09/2007 at 16:43)
As the London charge has proved, C-charging is a very inefficient way of raising revenue.
A more sensible approach would be a "Local Tax" of say 5p per litre of fuel bought in Greater Manchester going to Public Transport.
Once Public transport is running efficiently, safely and securely, you will find that motorists will willingly use it.
Even you, as pro as you are to this ridiculous idea, have to admit that there are better options than the TIF bid propose.
John Hall, Tameside (10/09/2007 at 16:48)
region.The Tameside Leader R.Oldham ios the master at denying reality,and his deliberate policies have ensured these traffic volumes exist,in fact he has spent £800,000 of Council Tax Payers money on promoting the M1-M60 direct route olan with his Mottram ByPass scheme.
The truth is being held back from the 220,000 residents of Tameside,and I for one intend to spend 1.5 days at the Public Inmquiry exposing the duplicity,deceptions,and expose the real truth which the media are also ignoring.Witnesses at thePublic Inquiry supporting the scheme openly admit they want more transport from Humberside,All Area`s of Yorkshire etc travelling daily over the Penines along the proposed Mottram ByPass,for Shoppers,Ringway,HGV`s times
far easier access from the North East.
If the M.E.N want to allopw me to report the truth of whats occuring then stop blocking my Postbag contributions and let me have the same media access as the Supporters have been given.NO they will not because of vested interests,so come on M.E.N you can easily contact me and lets have the real truth in the media.
The Tameside Advertiser,the Tameside Reporter have been blocking my true statements as well,so believe me the truth of what is going on is being deliberately hidden from the Electorate because those in powerful positions are linked to the media,and ensure we learn "nowt" of the reality.
John Hall
Denton
Simon B, www.manchestertolltax.com (10/09/2007 at 17:02)
"It demands a reduction in road building and the introduction of road pricing like the Greater Manchester proposals to introduce congestion charging in return for £3bn of public transport improvements"
mancvnian (10/09/2007 at 17:21)
link_road_17/7, Derbyshire (10/09/2007 at 19:22)
Never mind another killer quote from Roy Oldham: "Over the past decade, thousands of people have bought homes in Derbyshire and the only way for them to get into Manchester is through Tameside - cars are nose to tail in the morning and evening".
FACT - the main route between Manchester and Derbyshire is the A6 through Hazel Grove, Disley and New Mills. As their long suffering residents will testify. A6 does not pass through Tameside.
FACT - these second "holiday" homes tend to be located in the A6 corridor/White Peak area (think Hope Valley, Bakewell, etc.), not scruffy, depressing Woodhead or Longdendale.
FACT - the poor record of Labour on delivering anything but unaffordable house prices, increased traffic congestion, and debt mountain of car credit is the reality of all this.
FACT - Tameside is increasing congestion FURTHER by building a new shopping centre at Mottram Roundabout, convieniently placed for all that cross-Pennine traffic. It managed to get the land by bulldozing council housing by declaring it "unfit", much like the Pathfinder scandals in Salford, Stoke-on-Trent and Burnley.
Wake up and smell the poo people!!
Marion Madden (10/09/2007 at 20:58)
East Riding Mancunian, Radcliffe (10/09/2007 at 22:36)
Fred Parker (10/09/2007 at 22:50)